When it comes to sourcing and recruiting top talent, LinkedIn Recruiter and Sales Navigator are both excellent tools. However, they are meant for different types of professionals. If you’re also searching for the differences between these two tools, let’s dive into the details!
LinkedIn Recruiter is designed for recruiting professionals who need to source and contact candidates on LinkedIn. It provides users with advanced search and filtering options, InMail credits, and the ability to view candidates’ full profiles. It is built for process management, helping recruiters through the entire hiring process.
Sales Navigator, on the other hand, is meant for sales professionals. It helps users build relationships with potential customers and identify new sales opportunities. It includes features such as lead recommendations, advanced search and filtering, and the ability and link management. In addition, LinkedIn Sales Navigator also includes several useful features for sales teams, such as the ability to create and manage lists of leads, track sales performance, and more. It is built for relationships management, which is a vital key to long term success for recruitment professionals.
Top Differences Between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Recruiter
LinkedIn Recruiter and Sales Navigator are two popular premium Linkedin tools with very different purposes. As the name suggests, Sales Navigator is a prospecting & sales tool, that helps sales professionals to target & reach out to prospects. It is essentially a relationship management tool. Linkedin Recruiter is a process management tool that helps make the hiring process easier. While they both have unique features and benefits, there are some key differences between them that you should be aware of before deciding which one to use.
Navigator is for Leads, whereas recruiter helps with hiring.
Sales Navigator is a lead generation tool that allows users to find and connect with potential customers on LinkedIn. It provides users with access to advanced search features, contact recommendations, and InMail messages. Likewise, it allows marketers to access a larger database of potential customers enabling them to create targeted lists of leads.
In contrast, LinkedIn Recruiter is a hiring tool that allows users to find and connect with potential candidates on LinkedIn. It gives users access to advanced search features and contact recommendations based on your search. You can also connect with candidates directly through the tool, making it a great way to connect with potential hires.
They both have different Search Filters.
Sales Navigator & Recruiter have different search filters as they are designed for different purposes. In Linkedin Sales Navigator, you have the Lead Builder, which looks like this:
Linkedin Sales Navigator has 29 filters to choose from
Advanced Search in Recruiter looks like this:
Linkedin Recruiter Lite offers 21 filters to find candidates.
The filters Linkedin Sales Navigator and Recruiter both include are:
- Job Title
- Keyword
- Location
- Current Company
- Past Company
- Company Size
- Schools
- Industries
- Keywords
- Profile languages
- Network relationship
- Seniority Level
- Function
There are some unique filters in Sales Navigator
- Years in current position
- Years at current company
And some unique filters in Recuiter:
- Years of experience (in specific field)
- Military Veterans
- Skills
- ‘Open to Work’ profiles (Not in Recruiter Lite)
- ‘More likely to respond’ profiles (Not in Recruiter Lite)
Aside from these differences, some filters have different labels, such as:
- Interested in = Employment interests
- Relationships = Network Relationships
- Member since = Recently joined Linkedin
These differences reflect the difference in objectives in using the two tools.
Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Recruiter have different search filters because they are designed for different purposes. Sales Navigator is designed to help salespeople find and connect with potential customers, while LinkedIn Recruiter is designed to help recruiters find and connect with potential candidates.
Secondary Filters in Sales Navigator
Sales Navigator also provides useful filters at the top of search results
Extra filters include:
- Changed job in past 90 days
- Mentioned in the news in the last 30 days
- Posted on Linkedin in last 30 days
- Shared experiences
- People that follow your company
Recruiter does not have these secondary filters.
Sales Navigator also allows you to search across companies, allowing you to filter based on factors including overall/ department headcount growth.
Both Tools Allow you to Save Searches
This is powerful as it allows you to be notified every time a new candidate or a new lead matches your search filters.
To do this in both tools, click on Saved Searches > New Results. This will allow you to see both your original search results, as well as any new matches.
Both Linkedin Recruiter and Sales Navigator offer the possibility to save your searches.
This feature is really powerful as it allows you to be notified every time a new candidate or a new lead matches with your search filters.
InMails
Linkedin InMails are one of the most valuable tools, as it allows you to communicate with people outside of your network without putting in the time to build a connection first.
The monthly allowance of InMails for each plan is as follows;
- Across Sales Navigator plans – 50 InMails /month
- Recruiter Lite – 100 InMails /month
- Recruiter – 1000 InMails / day
You can see that Linkedin Recruiter provides a much greater ability to reach out beyond your network.
Recommendations
Linkedin Recruiter can help you find candidates based on their similarity to your star employees. You can tell Linkedin to search for prospects that have similar profiles to a specific person. This is a great way to find even more awesome candidates.
On the other hand, Sales Navigator can use your sales preferences and previously saved leads to make AI recommendations for more leads. This is a great feature to help keep your pipeline full.
Prioritizing Prospects
Linkedin Recruiter helps you prioritise candidates more likely to join your company. For example, Recruiter knows that users who are connected to your employees, have previously applied for jobs, or have followed your company page, are more likely to be strong candidates.
Sales Navigator can help you to identify users who have posted on Linkedin in the last 30 days and therefore are active users. It would be a shame to waste your precious InMails on people who haven’t visited Linkedin in years! On top of this, it can help find recent joiners to a company. B2B sales professionals often prefer talking to new employees as they are more open to change and want to impact their new organisation. They can be found within the account section, or as users with ‘new jobs’ across their targeted network.
Data Integrations
If you’re using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to keep track of your sales prospects, you’ll be glad to know that you can sync your data with many other CRMs. Having all of your sales data in one place can help you track your performance and close more deals.
In contrast, Linkedin Recruiter essentially has its own built-in CRM to help manage your talent pipeline. You can use this to create ‘projects’ that centralise your three sources of talent.
- Candidates you found through searches
- Applicants to Job Posts published on Linkedin
- Candidates Recommended by Linkedin Algorithm
You can then use this to manage your candidates through the hiring process
Linkedin Recruiter also integrates with popular CRMs & Applicant Tracking Systems like Workable, Workday or Oracle. It also integrates with Talent Insights and Talent Hub, the other Linkedin recruiting tools.
Other differences
Recruiter Lite is designed to provide shortlist management tools, helping you narrow down potential candidates. Profiles can be added to clipboards with notes, or saved to specific projects.
Reminders can also be set with the ‘update me’ feature to alert you when the individual updates their profile.
Recuiter Lite also does not give you access to 3rd connections, therefore not letting you access the full extent of the Linkedin network.
Sales Navigator, on the other hand, excels in relationship management and allows you to access the whole of Linkedin’s user base. Interesting profiles can be saved as leads, so you can follow the individual in your Sales Navigator homepage (So you can see their activity, instead of your connections.) You are also able to tag and make notes on a specific leads profile.
The Price of Linkedin Sales Navigator & Linkedin Recruiter
Pricing data for these plans can be difficult to find online as it usually requires a call with the sales team on Linkedin to receive a quote. However, we have kept our ear to the street, and we hear that these are the estimated average costs of these plans at the moment.
Linkedin Recruiter has two plans:
- Recruiter Lite: $170 per month
- Recruiter: $835 per month
Sales Navigator offers three plans:
- Core (Professional): $99 per month
- Advanced (Team): $149 per month
- Advanced Plus (Enterprise): starts at $1600/year
As you can see, Recruiter is considerably more expensive than Sales Navigator, but it’s well worth it if you actively recruit from a large pool of candidates. If the Recruiter Corporate plan is too expensive, you can invest in Recruiter Lite, cheaper but with less functionality and a less advanced search.
Related Questions
Can I use LinkedIn Recruiter to find leads?
If you’re looking for a way to find leads, LinkedIn Recruiter is not the tool for you. While it’s a great tool for recruiting, it won’t help you find leads.
Should I buy LinkedIn Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Recruiter?
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool is a must-have if you’re in sales. It gives you access to a wealth of information about potential customers, including their job title, company size, and location. It also allows you to see who’s been looking at your profile so that you can start a conversation.
LinkedIn Recruiter is the tool for you if you’re in talent acquisition. It gives you access to a database of over 500 million professionals, so you can find the perfect candidate for your open position.
How do I switch from recruiter to sales navigator?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Recruiter are two different things, and you can’t easily switch from one subscription to another. There is also no possibility to upgrade your account to access Sales Navigator features.
What is better than Sales Navigator?
Sales Navigator is an excellent tool for sales professionals, but other tools are even better. One such tool is ZoomInfo – is an artificial intelligence platform that helps sales professionals close more deals. It does this by automating the process of finding and qualifying leads and providing insights into how to best reach and sell to potential customers.
Key Takeaways
- Sales Navigator is a lead generation tool that allows users to find and connect with potential customers on LinkedIn.
- Recruiter is a hiring tool that allows users to find and connect with potential candidates on LinkedIn.
- Sales Navigator has filters based on industry, company size, and location, while LinkedIn Recruiter has filters based on job title, skills, and experience.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is perfect for sales individuals. It’s more affordable and still has several features to help you connect with potential customers. However, if recruiting is your focus, LinkedIn Recruiter is the better tool for the job.
